About

Farmington High School
10 Monteith Drive
Farmington, CT 06032
(860) 673-2514

Advisor: Jessica Boratko

Instagram: @fhs.voice
Website: www.fhsvoice.org

The Farmington High School Editorial Policy pertains to The Voice newspaper, website, and all of its social media. As expressed by its name, The Voice is the voice of the Farmington High School students. Since the publication is not subjected to prior review, the opinions expressed are solely that of the staff writers and not that of faculty and staff and other school officials. The Voice will always strive to keep the school informed with topical, relevant, accurate stories that affect and reflect our audience. Our mission is to report newsworthy information in our community while respecting our sources. The Voice not only has an obligation to report, but to uphold the same journalistic principles in our advertising and business techniques. We take pride in our community and comply with our district’s standards. The site is updated and run by The Voice‘s staff. Any unsigned editorials reflect the majority of opinions among staff members.

Letters to the Editors:

We encourage readers to contribute to the newspaper, both print and online, and send stories, photographs, artwork and letters to [email protected].

Letters to the editor should be submitted to [email protected]. Letters must be signed with the contact information provided so authorship can be verified before publication. Anonymous submissions will not be accepted.
Letters should not exceed 600 words.
The editorial board reserves the right to omit letters it deems unfit for publication — letters that are libelous, obscene, invasive of another’s privacy or that encourage physical disruption of school activities will not be published. The Voice will not publish spam or advertisements that are submitted as letters to the editor.
The editorial board reserves the right to make grammatical modifications or cut long letters to the 600-word limit without altering the message.
The board will review each letter upon submission. The letter can only be published after the majority of the board agrees to publish.
The byline will state the name of the writer with “Contributor” following. Headlines can be submitted but may be altered to fit our journalistic conventions.
The editorial board will contact the author if the board has concerns regarding clarity, accuracy or fact-checking.
All letters to the editor become the property of The Voice upon receipt.

Errors and Corrections:

Please fill out the following form to submit errors and corrections. If this form does not work, please submit corrections directly to [email protected].

The editorial board reserves the right to determine whether, in fact, an error has been made through additional research and fact-checking. The EIC will send an initial email to the complainant to let him/her know that the board is looking into the complaint and will get back to him/her as soon as possible with next steps.
Significant errors will be determined by the editorial board. When a significant error is made in a published article, the author of the article in question must add a “Correction Statement.” This statement will appear at the bottom of the article in italics followed by “Correction:” and the statement, which will acknowledge the error and describe the correction made. The correction statement must include the date and time the change was made.
The EIC will contact the complainant to let him/her know the decision the board reached. If the board agrees an error has been made, the EIC will apologize on behalf of The Voice.
Minor errors to published digital stories such as punctuation or spelling will be corrected by the editor or author; no correction statement is necessary.

Mission Statement:

As expressed by its name, The Voice is the voice of the Farmington High School student body. The Voice will always strive to keep the school informed with topical, relevant, accurate stories that affect and reflect our audience. Our mission is to report newsworthy information in our community while respecting our sources. The Voice not only has an obligation to report, but to uphold the same journalistic principles in our advertising and business techniques. We take pride in our community and comply with our district’s standards.

Statement of Ethics:

As journalists for The Voice, we must produce writing that provides fellow students and faculty with fair information about our community. It is our responsibility to report the news in a truthful, unbiased, respectful manner. We must protect the rights of others and not report rumors, gossip or hearsay or private information that could cause harm. We will not use copy-righted items without permission. We will also get multiple sources for our stories.

Byline Policy:

All articles, columns, reviews, graphics and photos will be bylined with the producer’s name. Editorials represent the staff ’s opinion and will be bylined as such. When more than one person contributes to a piece, all names will be presented on the
byline.

Advertising:

The Voice accepts advertisements from all local business except those who pertain to illegal substances for minors. Personal advertisements are accepted. Prior to placement in the paper, businesses need to have completed a contract. Layout designs can be submitted or asked to be created. For advertising inquiries, please contact us at [email protected].

Affiliations:

The Voice is affiliated with Columbia Scholastic Press Association and participates in the annual Medalist Critique. The Voice has ranked Gold for the past four years for its print edition and won a Crown Award for its hybrid edition for the 2018-2019 school year.